Svart Records holds especially Finnish acts on its roster, yet there are a couple of exceptions. This goes, for example, for High Priest Of Saturn. This band hails from Trondheim, Norway, and consists of three permanent members: Merethe Heggset, Martin Sivertsen and Andreas Hagen.
The four songs on this self-called debut album last for more than forty minutes (all clocking in between nine and thirteen minutes). That might be hard to digest from time to time, but fans of this specific genre (see further) will surely appreciate this. As a matter of fact, the long average duration is a surplus. But a warning be said: at the same time it might bore / bother some after a while…
What High Priest Of Saturn bring is a gloomy, eerie form of Obscure Doom Metal with a Sixties / Seventies attitude. This goes especially for the vintage organ / keyboards (performed by session musician Ole Kristian Malmedal), as well as the melodic riffs, leads (including the magnificent solos) and rhythm section.
High Priest Of Saturn have a female vocalist. As a matter of fact it isn’t that unusual anymore, being a Doom act with a female singer, but I do still find it modestly sexy. Merethe’s vocals (limited, because the songs are mainly guitar-driven, including that weird organ sound (cf. The Doors, Deep Purple or Pink Floyd) and the heavy-as-f*ck rhythm section) are little hypnotic and trippy, as well as rather sonorous / monotonous, fitting perfectly to the psychedelic, little grooving-sludgy and ultra-slow Doom / Stoner epics.
FFO: Sleep and Om, Electric Wizard and Lord Of The Grave.